Issue 1

To all to whom these Presents shall come, Greeting! Whereas the Association or Institution incorporated under the Companies Acts, 1862 to 1907, and known as the Institution of Structural Engineers hath petitioned Us for a Charter of Incorporation such as in and by these Presents granted:

IT has often been said that wise men do not prophesy; but much of the progress of the world is due to rash men who do things which wise men consider foolish. Ewart S. Andrews

Mr.P.J. BLACK, L. R.I.B.A., Chairman, Steelwork Calculations Panel

A photograph of Mr. H .J.I Deane, who was President 1926-1928, appears on page 26.

THE period 1920-1934 has been remarkable in Australia for the number of structural engineering enterprises undertaken by both public authorities and private companies. Considering the fact that the whole population of Australia is only 6 1/2 millions (less than the population of London alone) the advance made in the last fourteen years in structural works shows that Australians are not lacking in ambition, enterprise and initiative. T.W. Bridger

A REVIEW of structural engineering in Malaya, covering the years 1920 to 1934, is largely a review of the development and use of reinforced concrete as a structural material. Prior to 1920 reinforced concrete was comparatively little used, bricks and mortar being the materials generally employed for buildings, steel was universally employed for bridges, and mass concrete was the usual material for reservoirs, storage tanks, and similar structures. In this connection it may be well to mention that probably the first reinforced concrete structure constructed in Malaya was a ferry boat. Such a craft was built for the Federated Malay States Railway in 1912, by Messrs. Brossard Mopin, a Singapore firm of French engineers, and was employed for transporting goods across the Johore Straits until the Johore Causeway, which is referred to later, rendered the use of ferry boats obsolete. F.G. Coales

BENGAL is one of the largest and most wealthy of the Indian Provinces, and has as its principal town the City of Calcutta. James M. Jardine

"Urbs prima in Indis" is the proud title of Bombay, which has a population of approximately 1 1/4 millions of people. Major T.R. Sneyd-Kynnersley

It is essential for those not familiar with New Zealand conditions to remember that the North Island has a population which even now is only about one million, and that less than one hundred years ago the main area was still under dense virgin forest. S. Irwin Crookes

THE South Island of New Zealand is over 500 miles in length, and varies in width from 100 to 150 miles, with a population of about 500,000. G.C. Calvert

IN any country the amount of work to be done by structural engineers corresponds very closely with the extent and nature of general industrial activity.

Major A. H. S. WATERS, V.C., D.S.O., M.C., M.Inst.C.E., M.I.Mech.E., President of the Institution, 1933-1934.

SINCE the immediate object of this publication is to signalise the granting of a Royal Charter of Incorporation to the Institution of Structural Engineers, it might be a good thing to reflect on how far we have progressed in the “general advancement of the science and art of structural engineering” as set out in the Charter, and to consider if the education of the structural engineers of to-day combines provision for the study of both the scientific and artistic sides of the profession. J.T. Saunders

DURING the present century structural engineering has made great strides in connection with works carried out by municipal authorities, civic centres, town halls, art galleries, baths and buildings of other types erected for Corporations or local authorities. At the end of the nineteenth century, these were built without any assistance from professional structural engineers under current by-laws, with thick walls to comply with the accepted schedules for specified lengths and heights. Floors were often of vaulted brickwork between heavy wrought iron joists, steel was just beginning to find its way into general use, and concrete was being adopted for horizontal surfaces, reinforced mostly with filler joists. There were, however, several brands of proprietary fireproof (so-called) floors on the market. Major E.C.P. Monson

THERE are two fields of work in structural engineering in which, as a teacher, I have naturally been mainly interested; these are theoretical investigations into stress distribution in complicated structures, and the necessary experimental research to test the validity of these theoretical investigations. It is very interesting to remember the share in the early development in the determination of stresses in structures due to men directly connected with Edinburgh. It was in 1870-nine years before his death-that Clerk Maxwell read his paper on reciprocal diagrams before the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and so laid the foundation of all the investigations which have been so numerous during the last quarter of a century; only three years later Bow’s book on notation was published in Edinburgh, another contribution of great value to systematic development of graphical solutions of stress problems. In 1890 the Oxford University Press published my translation of Cremona’s classical treatise on graphical statics, which I fancy brought home for the first time to engineering students the beauty and simplicity of graphical as opposed to algebraical solutions of stress problems. Though the immense development in the use of graphical methods of dealing with stress calculations both in determinate and in indeterminate structures has rendered obsolete much of this early work, the importance of this pioneer work is attested by the fact that Professor Beggs’ deformeter, which places in the hands of the research worker and the designer a practical method of solving indeterminate structural problems by elastic models, was based, as the Professor himself in his description of the apparatus acknowledges, on Clerk Maxwell’s theorem of reciprocal deflections. Professor Beggs’ apparatus is now in use in several of the British University Engineering Schools, and in some of the more important structural engineering drawing offices, and research is being carried out with the help of this instrument in connection with the drawing oflice instruction at the University of Edinburgh and elsewhere. Sir Thomas Hudson Beare

THE beginning of the present century saw the birth of the steel frame structure as a modern method of construction in place of buildings of very thick walls when many storeys had to be carried. This is not to say that there were not in America previous to this date some examples of this construction, but generally speaking they were not legal in this country. Oscar Faber

THE twentieth century has witnessed remarkable developments in those provinces of engineering pertaining to the construction of bridges and dams. Whilst all engineering progress takes place relatively gradually, certain periods occur during which progress is notably accelerated, and the beginning of the century closely accentuates the commencement of such a period of acceleration. It is further noteworthy that the evidences of increased skill, excellence of design and workmanship and boldness of conception during the past thirty years have not been the monopoly of any one nation, but have been very generally shared by all the great industrial civilisations. Professor J. Husband

Wood, iron and mass work, either in the form of roughly pitched banks of stone, coursed masonry and brickwork, precast concrete blocks or cast insitu walls, were the generally accepted media for marine structures up to approximately the beginning of the present century. H.J. Deane

AT this time, when the Institution is celebrating the grant by His Majesty the King of a Royal Charter of Incorporation, it is, perhaps, pardonable to review briefly the history of the Institution and its progress during the first twenty-six years of its existence. From small beginnings the Institution has progressed steadily but rapidly, until now it takes its place amongst the great professional Institutions without any feeling of inferiority. This position has been worthily won by the self-denying work of a great number of members, many holding the highest positions in the profession. Lt.-Col. C.H. Fox

In 1922, as a result of correspondence and discussion between the late Mr. E. Fiander Etchells (President, 1921-1922) and Mr. A.S. Spencer, a member resident in Manchester, it was decided to call a meeting of local members.

THE inaugural meeting of the Branch was held at the University of Bristol on January 6th, 1923, when the President of the Institution (Mr. E. Fiander Etchells) presided and delivered an address on the scope and objects of the Institution, and the advantages accruing from the formation of Branches. Mr. Gower Pimm, who had acted as convener of the meeting, was elected first Chairman of the Branch, and Mr. F.C. Webber undertook the duties of Honorary Secretary. Since its formation the office of Chairman has been held by the following :-Mr. Gower Pimm, Sir Charles T. Ruthen, Mr. A.J. Taylor, and Mr. L.H. Moore; and the office of Hon. Secretary by Messrs. F.C. Webber, Gower Pimm and M.E. Adams, L.H. Moore and W.A. Williams, F.E.G. Hammond.

THE occasion of the granting of a Royal Charter to the Institution coincides with ten years’ activities of the Yorkshire Branch, and it is well that we should render an account of our stewardship during the first decade. The inaugural meeting convened by Mr. D.T. Lloyd Jones (now the Borough Engineer of Halifax) was held in the Town Hall, Halifax, on Saturday, June 14th, 1924, at which, in a short address, he set out the reasons for calling the meeting, and the advantages to the Institution and its members of the formation of such a Branch. He referred to the wide scope of the Institution, and it is worthy of record that he expressed his conviction, even in those early days, that the Institution would see a great upward trend, culminating in the grant of a Royal Charter.

SOME ten years ago-November 22nd, 1924-Mr. W.R. Parsonage (Member) called a meeting at the Technical College, Wednesbury, of members located in the Midlands, to consider the desirability of forming a branch of the Institution for the Midland Counties. It was decided to petition the Council for permission to form a branch, and a small Committee consisting of Messrs. Carrington, Collins, Cotterell, Lawton, and Telford-with Mr. Parsonage as Hon. Secretary-was formed to make the necessary arrangements. Mr. J.C. Telford was elected first Chairman, and Mr. E.L. Cotterell was subsequently elected Vice-chairman, sharing with Mr. Telford the duty of Chairman for nearly three years.

THIS Branch was formed as the result of a preliminary meeting convened by Captain E. M. Leest, on February llth, 1926, at Plymouth. Eight members of the Institution attended, and welcomed Mr. H.J. Deane, then Vice-president of the Institution, who explained the objects and the work undertaken by branches.

0RIGINALLY the South Wales and Monmouthshire Branch was affiliated to the Western Counties Branch, the meetings of which took place for the most part in Bristol. It was found, however, that very few of the South Wales and Monmouthshire members could attend the meetings, and that they were not enjoying the full benefits of their membership in consequence. Early in 1930, Mr. E. B. Miller and Mr. Wallace A. Evans circularised the members in South Wales, suggesting that a South Wales Branch of the Institution should be formed, and asking for their support. The response was favourable, and the consent of the Western Counties Branch to the splitting up of the area was then obtained. On July 21st, 1930, a meeting was held at the South Wales Institute of Engineers, Park Place, Cardiff, which was attended by the President of that year, Lt.-Colonel J. Mitchell Moncrieff, C.B.E., and the Secretary, Major R.F. Maitland. It was resolved to petition the Council for permission to form a new Branch to be called the South Wales and Monmouthshire Branch, and that it should embrace an area covered by the following counties: Breconshire, Carmarthenshire, Cardiganshire, Glamorganshire, Monmouthshire, Pembrokeshire and Radnorshire. The following officers were also elected to serve for the first Session of the Branch :-Mr. M.C. Harrison (Chairman), Mr. A.A. Fordham (Vice-chairman), Mr. E.B. Miller (Hon. Secretary), and the following were elected members of Committee :-Messrs. J. Blackett, W.A. Evans, J. W. Partridge,H.W.J. Powell, E.T. Williams, A. Carroll, D. Manolopoulos, and A.G. Thompson.

THE Scottish Branch was founded in 1931, at the suggestion of the late Mr. Basil Scott . An inaugural meeting was held in the Royal Technical College in October, 1931, when the proposal to form a Scottish Branch was discussed, and enthusiastically approved by the fifty members who attended.

The Institution Headquarters, at 10 Upper Belgrave Street, S.W. 1

Major R. F. MAITLAND, O.B.E. (Mil. Div.), Chevalier Crown of Italy, M.I.Istruct. E.